With the 30th Selection
Steelers' Draft Needs
By Jerry DiPaola

Success in the NFL is tied to a variety of theories and practices.

Preparation, focus and talent are chief among them, but coaches – bless their little clichéd hearts and minds – love to refer to the ability to have a short memory.

Quarterbacks must forget their most recent interception. Cornerbacks cannot dwell on the wide receiver who juked them into next week. Running backs must not let the pain in their knee, perhaps sustained only one play earlier, affect their next carry.

And so it is for team executives, such as Steelers’ director of football operations Kevin Colbert. He, his scouts and coach Bill Cowher must prepare for the NFL draft April 23-24 as if their team did not win 16 of 18 games and place itself solidly among the league's elite.

The Steelers need help, people!

This is a team that appeared to have it all last season, but also enters a new season in need of everything.

The Steelers were wildly successful in 2004, but ...

• Did rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger catch the rest of the league looking the other way?
• Did Jerome Bettis wring one final big season out of his now 33-year-old, battered and bruised body, and is another one too much to ask?
• Did defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau's genius hide the problems at cornerback and the loss for most of the season of Pro Bowl nose tackle Casey Hampton?

The Steelers survived a series of injuries to several key players, but can they continue to play with fire and not get burnt?

Yes, players such as Chris Hoke, Keydrick Vincent, Bettis, Roethlisberger, James Harrison, Larry Foote and Willie Williams stepped up admirably and effectively and replaced injured starters.

But Vincent left via free agency to, presumably, make the AFC North rival Baltimore Ravens a better team. The rest of players on that list are either aging or had no prior history of strong play in the NFL before last year.

Nonetheless, the Steelers bet big money on Foote's continued improvement, giving him a five-year, $13.43 million contract extension with a $3.25 million signing bonus.

Look at the roster and the thought arises that the Steelers can go in almost any direction in any round and end up addressing a need.

For example:

• There is little depth on the offensive line. The loss of Vincent robs the team of a starter at right guard and a backup who could have replaced almost anyone on the line. Losing right tackle Oliver Ross to the Arizona Cardinals shoves second-year player Max Starks into the starting lineup, with almost nothing (other than 33-year-old Barrett Brooks) in reserve.
• Kendrell Bell contributed nothing to the team in 2004, but he is a talented player whose loss in free agency to the Kansas City Chiefs leaves special-teams ace Clint Kriewaldt and Harrison as the only backups at inside linebacker. If Harrison is needed inside, who backs up outside linebackers Joey Porter, who is entering his seventh season, and Clark Haggans? And don't say Alonzo Jackson. Don't believe that Cowher would be comfortable with that scenario.
• OK, how about wide receiver? For better or worse, Plaxico Burress is the New York Giants' problem now, but can newly acquired Cedrick Wilson, Antwaan Randle El and/or Lee Mays be an adequate replacement? It's possible, perhaps likely, that Randle El will emerge as a reliable complement to Hines Ward, but Roethlisberger was not happy to lose Burress.
• Cornerback is a huge area of need for the Steelers, who re-signed Williams, but he will be 35 by the end of the season. The team is hoping, but can't be sure that Ricardo Colclough or Ike Taylor will ably step into the void left when Chad Scott was released. Deshea Townsend has played well on the right side, but he will be 30 and entering the final year of his contract by the start of the '05 season.

Many fans and other critics expected the Steelers to look to free agency for help, but that turned out to be largely impossible. Remember, the Steelers are paying multiple millions of dollars to nine Pro Bowl players and other veterans, pushing the team's payroll dangerously close to the NFL's $85 million spending limit. For that reason, the Steelers didn't make a serious pitch to sign cornerback Ty Law, for example.

The Steelers were in salary-cap jail before making several adjustments that included releasing Scott and tight end Jay Riemersma and doing something that chairman Dan Rooney abhors – restructuring contracts before their expiration date. That included a significant pay cut for running back Jerome Bettis, one of the team's most important players last season.

That also meant pushing cap charges into the future – the dreaded "credit-card spending" that not even Colbert likes. Restructurings were done for running back Duce Staley, linebackers James Farrior and Clark Haggans, center Jeff Hartings and offensive tackle Marvel Smith.

With so little salary cap wiggle room available to make moves in free agency, the Steelers must turn to the draft for help.

Colbert said the draft class is strong in four areas -- running back, wide receiver, offensive line and cornerback. The Steelers need significant upgrades at each of those positions, but no more than it needs help on the defensive line and in its depth at linebacker.

How long can the Steelers expect right defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen, 34, to continue to play at a high level? Thanks to Harrison, the team survived injuries to Haggans and Porter's pregame meltdown in Cleveland. But is Harrison, who was considered too short to be drafted, a long-term answer?

It would not be a surprise if the Steelers secretly hoped that one of the top running backs fell to the bottom of the first round – the team picks 30th – to alleviate the eventual retirement of Bettis (even if it's next year) and the recent tendency of Staley and Verron Haynes to miss time due to injuries.

They would have to settle for the fourth-best back, however, because Cedric Benson of Texas and Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown of Auburn will be early first-round picks. Would the Steelers place a telephone call to old friend Ron Zook, the former coach at Florida, who watched closely the development of Ciatrick Fason, 6-1, 215? Vernand Morency of Oklahoma State ran for 1,474 yards last season and is a thought after the first round.

The receiver crop may have some fruit still to be picked late in the first round, and Roddy White of Alabama-Birmingham (a 4.42 speedster who stands 6-foot-1) would be intriguing -- if he falls to 30. Mark Clayton of Oklahoma has been productive, but can scouts get past his short, 5-foot-10 frame?

Nebraska cornerback Fabian Washington has run a 4.28, and might be of interest in the second round. Or, the Steelers may want to use a first-round pick and grab one of the top cornerbacks such as Carlos Rogers of Auburn, Brandon Browner of Oregon State or Justin Miller of Clemson.

Many draft experts, including Mel Kiper, have mentioned the Steelers and a first-round tight end in the same sentence, and Heath Miller of Virginia or Alex Smith of Stanford will attract the team's attention. There is no doubt that the team needs a run-blocking tight end – a serious problem since the departure of Mark Bruener – but investing a first-round choice may not be wise.

Good coaching and veteran leadership had as much to do with the Steelers' success last season as a deep roster, but it needs to be replenished. The hits it took in free agency must be repaired, even if it's only with an eye on starters beyond 2005 or immediate help off the bench.

Want to know what the Steelers need in the draft? Line up the names of all positions, with the exception of quarterback, on a wall. Throw a dart and when it sticks, you have your answer.